Rain lashes Mumbai suburbs, heavy showers likely in Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan

According to the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) district forecast and warning, Mumbai, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Beed, Parbhani, Osmanabad, Latur, Nanded and Hingoli are under yellow alert, indicating thunderstorm accompanied by lightning and gusty winds, with heavy rainfall at isolated places on Wednesday.

As per the 24 hours forecast issued at 2 pm on Tuesday, Mumbai city and suburbs are likely to get moderate rain, with heavy to very heavy rain in some areas and thunderstorms with wind speed reaching 30-40 km/hour at isolated places.

Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Nasik, Dhule and Nandurbar are likely to witness thunderstorms with lightning, gusty winds and very heavy rain at isolated places on Wednesday.

The IMD had issued an orange alert for Mumbai and its neighbourhood for Tuesday. In nine hours ending at 5.30 pm on Tuesday, Mumbai has recorded 78.2 mm of rain, which falls in the heavy rainfall category.

Strong wind — speed reaching 30-40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph — is likely to prevail over western Vidarbha and adjoining districts of Marathwada and Madhya Maharashtra during the next 24 hours and decrease thereafter.

Cyclone Gulab, which has turned into a deep depression after crossing the coast of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday evening, and a well-marked low pressure by Tuesday, could give birth to a fresh cyclone in the Arabian Sea.

The IMD on Monday said that the current system will be given a new name if the wind speed touches 68 km/hour. If this happens, it will only be the third such instance since 1996 when a cyclone, after making landfall, would further strengthen and re-emerge as a fresh system of the cyclone category in the north Indian Ocean region.

The IMD in its Tuesday afternoon bulletin said, “It (well-marked low pressure) is likely to move northwestwards and weaken gradually during the next 24 hours. The system is likely to emerge into the northeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Gujarat coast around September 30 and there is a likelihood for the system to further intensify into a depression over the northeast Arabian Sea during the subsequent 24 hours.”